Equestria and the Time Lord Episode 8: The Gates of Tartarus
by The Orwellian Writer
Summary: Daring Do prepares to depart the TARDIS, but the farewell will have to wait, as the Cybermen force them to crash land near Canterlot in 1003. The Cybermen are forcing he Doctor to lead them to a power source powerful enough to open the gates to Tatarus, where the most evil creatures ever are held prisoner in a Nether-dimension. One of which is happens to be the Cyber-Controller.
1. Prologue: Revenge of the Cybermen

Equestria and the Time Lord Episode 8: The Gates of Tartarus

Prologue: Revenge of the Cybermen

**=The Time Vortex, The Doctor's TARDIS, The TARDIS Console Room, Where Time Has No Meaning =**

The Doctor was pressing buttons on the TARDIS console, having completely mastered doing it with hooves by himself. He was flipping through a history book, trying to find out where their next destination should be.

All of a sudden, Daring Do walked in to the room, looking rather depressed.

"Oh hello Daring Do." The Doctor said as he continued to look through the incredibly thick book. "How are you doing? Now, I've been thinking about our next destination. Some of the potential choices would be…"

Daring Do cut him off. "I'm rather sorry, Doctor. But I don't want to go anywhere any more." She said, almost choking on the words as she said them.

The Doctor had heard these words in certain variations many times before, but that didn't stop him from saying "What?"

"Ponies often think I'm completely fearless and nothing can get to me. They're completely wrong. I've been terrified this whole time, and I've seen a lot that I'd never thought possible. I even killed someone. I don't think I can stay on the TARDIS traveling with you anymore. It's horrible, all that's been happening, and I don't want to do it anymore. I'm leaving." Daring Do said, shaking and, shockingly, beginning to cry.

The Doctor knew this was coming sooner or later. It didn't really make it less surprising. He supposed he was incapable of detecting the way his companions truly felt about whether or not they wanted to leave. "I see. If that's your decision and I know I can't change your mind about it all, then I suppose I'll have to set the coordinates for your home time." He said, rather sadly.

"Thank you." She said, not able to look directly at him.

**=Outer Space, In Orbit Above the Planet Gaia, Cyber Rescue Fleet 12, The Fleet Command Ship, Cyber Computer Room, 1003 C.E. =**

Three spaceships flew along side by side. One was larger than all the others, them being smaller versions of the bigger one. All of them were silver and sleek.

Inside the larger one was a large room. Inside was a computer identical to the computers on Earth that took up an entire room. On one of the computer panels had a glass case in it, and inside of the glass case was a silver orb that was hosed in four tube like light sliver nozzles that stretched around it and where they met, there was a small antenna going upwards. This was the Cyber-Planner, responsible for planning out all the strategies of the Cybermen.

The Cybermen themselves were like humans, except their entire body was silver. They had a panel up from their hips to just below their neck. Coming from these panels were thick sliver wires that ran down the side of their arms and the side of their legs. They had blank silver faces with teardrop eyes. They had a helmet like thing attached to their head, with the silver nozzles stretching from where their ears originally were to the top of their head, where there was a gun that they shot by thinking about shooting.

Among them was their leader, the Cyber-Leader, who looked no different than the rest of the Cybermen except the helmet and tubes on his head were black, and for some reason, his hands seemed to be permanently jammed on his hips.

"TAR~DIS in flight de~tected!" said the Cyber-Planner said in a slightly high-pitched voice.

"Where is it?" said the Cyber-Leader said.

"Head~ing for the year 913!" it replied.

"Do not let it get there!" The Cyber-Leader bellowed out. "Order it to be brought down! They will bring us…what we need!"

"Indeed!" The Cyber-Planner said. "The order…has been given!"

"Ex~cellent." The Cyber-Leader said, still continuing to briefly pause between the syllables.

"TAR~DIS located in Time Vortex. Bring~ing to this time period!' One of the Cyber men called out.

"Very soon, The Cyber-Controller will be free!" The Cyber-Leader as the ship began to be lowered down towards the planet of Gaia.

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot, Canterlot Mountain, Unknown Cave in Canterlot Mountain, 1003 C.E. =**

A mare sat in a cave, looking down into her reflection in a small pool of water, wondering where everything in her life had gone wrong. She sighed at the sight of her large purple hat and cape that were covered in stars, which she had discarded a while ago and left in the corner of the cave.

Suddenly there was a glowing gold light down at the bottom of the cave, begging her to grab at it. To take it. She ignored it, but it seemed to grow more hypnotic as it grew brighter. She ran out in to the snow in order to avoid having to look at it.

**=The Time Vortex, The Doctor's TARDIS, The TARDIS Console Room, Where Time Has No Meaning =**

The Doctor finished pressing all the necessary buttons needed to set the coordinates. "I've set the coordinates to get back to your home time. You'll be all right, won't you be?" he asked sadly.

"Yes, I think I will be." Daring Do said, still not able to look directly at him.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this to happen so soon. Could you go and tell Romana?" The Doctor asked her.

Daring Do was about to comply, when suddenly sparks flew up from the TARDIS console as a terrifying ripping sensation knocked them to the side.

"What was that?" Romana yelled as she charged in to the room.

"We were just ripped out of the Time Vortex by some outside force. All I can tell is that we're suspended 500 feet above the nearest planet, and the anti-gravity controls are about to fail." The Doctor said, panicked.

"But that means…" Romana said.

"We should probably hold on to something." The Doctor said as he sealed a chair to the floor and held on to it.

Romana and Daring Do grabbed on to the TARDIS console. There was another spark from the console, and the TARDIS began to fall hundreds of feet.

The Doctor kept a firm grip on the chair, but the rate they were falling made him begin to rise right out of the chair.

Romana and Daring Do also felt the same effect as they tried to hold on to the TARDIS console.

Daring Do blacked out first due to the extreme G-force she was experiencing. The Doctor and Romana didn't black out until the TARDIS made impact with the ground as they smashed to the ground at 90 miles an hour.


	2. Chapter 1: The Waking Ally

Chapter 1: The Waking Ally

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, Canterlot, The Entrance to the City of Canterlot, 1003 C.E. =**

The mare, who had a silvery blue mane and a light blue coat, with the cutie mark of a wand in front of the shape of the moon, made a run for an oncoming train and jumped on to it, looking to see that nopony had seen her get on. She hoped to be able to stay on the train like this until she got up in to Canterlot. It was certainly cold out with it snowing and all, and she wasn't keen on walking through it like this.

She looked over to see the entrance to the city of Canterlot. Luckily, Canterlot wasn't in any kind of emergency situation, so there no guards posted outside that would see her on the train. But just in case she tried to flatten herself against the hook between cars. The train went through in to the city, and she jumped off and went in to the train station to get warm as quickly as possible. Little did she know, she would come across two groups of ponies that were on that train that weren't supposed to be there either.

**=Gaia, Equestria, The Fields Between Ponyville and Canterlot Mountain, The Doctor's TARDIS, TARDIS Console Room, 1003 C.E. =**

The Doctor suddenly woke up to find he was alive and well, and once again, he had survived the crash of the TARDIS, and the TARDIS itself had as well. He walked over and shook Daring Do and Romana awake.

"Is everyone all right?" Romana asked just to make sure of such.

"Yes, I'm fine. But where did we end up landing?" Daring Do asked, rather worried.

"We're still on the correct planet. But when I don't know. It'll be a while before the TARDIS can take off again, so we might as well take a check and look to see where we are." The Doctor said as he walked out of the TARDIS and looked upwards.

"Well, what can you see where we are?" Daring Do asked.

"Well, there's Canterlot way up there." The Doctor pointed out.

Daring Do walked out and saw that they were indeed at the very bottom of the mountain that Canterlot was built on top of. "Oh great. How are we planning to get all the way up there?" she said, knowing that's what the Doctor had in mind.

"We could try that." The Doctor said as he pointed out a train that was now starting to go up the mountain. Come on, Romana!" he said quickly.

And before they even knew it, The Doctor, Romana, and Daring Do were running for their lives until they could jump p and land on the back of the train.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea, Doctor?" Romana asked after they had jumped on the back of the train.

"Pretty sure." The Doctor answered rather simply as the train continued forward.

They didn't truly notice as a light blue colored mare jumped on to the train.

As the train pulled up tough the city entrance, they too got off as quickly as possible and ran in to the train station. The Doctor noted it was rather old fashioned, as he was absolutely certain that they had yet to mass produce electricity to use as power.

Which, all in all, greatly annoyed the Doctor as he walked through the crowd, which was surprisingly small considering that this was the capitol city of Equestria. He noted that there was a small snack shop over in the corner, but only because he liked noting things, not because he was hungry or anything like that. He wasn't too worried about seeing his companions go off and do their own thing. He wasn't going to rush them and was going to allow them to do their own thing. They were individual…well, ponies he supposed.

Daring Do walked over and saw that a light blue mare was getting up on to and upturned box. She had a rather bad feeling about the nature of why this mare was getting up on to said box.

"I…am…the Great and Powerful…TRIXIE!" she yelled out, making it so everypony could hear.

Daring Do wondered if this mare was just crazy or using a really pathetic scam to get some form of money. She saw that the mare had written 'Donations needed' on the box. In that case, she was both.

"Do you have any proof that you're Great and Powerful?" asked somepony in the crowd.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie demands to know who asked such a question!" The mare, who was apparently named Trixie yelled out in an incredibly overdramatic and theatrical voice. Daring Do could tell she would go crazy if she had to listen to for 10 minutes longer, but she wanted to know who said it as well.

"As a matter of fact, it was me that said it." Said the speaker as he came forward. He was a stallion with a gray coat and a dark orange mane, his cutie mark obscured by the jacket he was wearing due to it being January and snowing out.

"How rude of you to insult the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie shouted.

"I wasn't insulting you. Only someone not Great and Powerful would assume as fast as that."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Trixie shouted.

Daring Do just left and walked as far out of earshot as she could after that.

Romana was nearby, looking out the window. She wasn't really interested in anything left to do around the train station. She was also frustrated by the lack of even primitive devices. Then she saw something very worrying out the window indeed.

Small bullets that had been fired at long range were striking the mountain at an angle and with the level of force so that it would rock slide directly on top of the station the were in and no where else.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Romana yelled as she ran over to the Doctor.

"What is it, Romana?" The Doctor asked her.

Romana didn't even have time to say it before the dangerous rumble of the rockslide signified hat it was crashing towards them at dangerous speed as it began to pile over the station and over the doors, trapping them in.

Naturally there was great panic, and this wasn't a good mix with a crowd. Some wildly pushed at the doors, and others simply ran in circles.

Then the Doctor heard a clanging noise on the other side of the rocks. "Ah, that's good. Someone's digging us out already." He said.

Then the clanging changed into a ticking noise. His eyes widened as he realized what that actually meant. "Get away from the door!" he yelled to those pounding at the door.

Not many listened, but some got away as a powerful explosion knocked away the rocks in front of the door and shattered the glass of the door.

The Doctor's eyes widened even more. "Oh no!" he said simply.

"The Doc~tor is located in this room. The Doc~tor will identify or he… will be destroyed!" said a Cyberman as he and a hundred other Cybermen walked in to the room.


	3. Chapter 2: Day of Reckoning

Chapter 2: Day of Reckoning

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, Canterlot, Canterlot Train Station, 1003 C.E. =**

The Cybermen stood there, continuing to look around the crowd and find the Doctor. "The Doc~tor will identify himself or he…will be destroyed!" it repeated as it stepped forward to search for the Doctor more closely.

"Will you really?" The Doctor said, keeping his head down and making sure the Cybermen couldn't distinguish where in the crowd he was at.

The Cybermen simply opened fire. One of the ponies in the crowd that were near where the Doctor was dropped down dead.

A horrifying panic rushed through the crowd as they all screamed and rushed away from the body.

"Stop this now!" The Cyberman said. And for some reason, the crowd all seemed to obey and stop right in their place. The Doctor then realized that he was the only one who hadn't started running away, so there he was away from the rest of the crowd, curly hair, scarf and all for the Cybermen to see.

"The Doc~tor…is located! We have him now!" The Cybermen said as several more Cybermen walked over and grabbed him, pulling him away.

"Doctor!" both Romana and Daring Do called, but it was too late. The Cybermen dragged him out the door and shot at the rocks above, causing them all to fall down, trapping everypony else in the train station once again.

The Doctor was being dragged down the mountain until he could see their Cyber-ship landed way downwards the mountain. They led him down as the entrance to the Cyber-ship slid open ahead of them and they walked in to it with the restrained Doctor as well.

The Doctor looked around the Cyber-ship. It was pretty much the same as when he had met the Cybermen invading the Nerva Beacon and the planet Voga. He already knew that the Cybermen looked the same as back on Voga. And he wondered if…

"The Doc~tor." Said the Cyber-Leader, who still looked the same. "I was correct to bring myself onto the ship that was lowering down on to this planet."

"Indeed, Cyber-Leader?" The Doctor asked. "Why did you seal up that train station instead of killing all that are in there?"

"The sadistic state of mind is required to bring what we need to us. So we shall watch as one begins killing all the others." The Cyber-Leader said as a screen that was watching the inside of the train station turned on.

"What do you need, then?" The Doctor said, worried for his friends who were still in there.

"A powerful shard from that of the Entity. It has the charge required to open the gates of Tartarus." The Cyber- Leader said.

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, Canterlot, Canterlot Train Station, 1003 C.E. =**

So as the Cybermen experiment to see who the first to murder the others would be, there was once again a panic as multiple ponies tried to claw and break their way through the rocks, but it only took all of 20 minutes for them all to realize it was hopeless and collapse to the ground ready to die there.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is severely angered at being trapped here!" Trixie yelled.

"Well thanks for being worried about all the others." Daring Do said, rolling her eyes. Then her eyes widened as she thought of something important. "Wait just a minute! Can't you teleport out of here?" she asked Trixie.

"Don't you think Trixie has tried that already?" Trixie said. "All unicorn magic has somehow been shorted out!"

"Well that's a lot of help!" Daring Do said as she walked over to talk to Romana.

"Do you suppose the Doctor will be alright after those Cybermen took him away?" Romana asked Daring Do.

"Cybermen?" asked Daring Do, who had never heard of them.

"Oh yes, neither of us told you about them before. Well, the Cybermen were once humanoids from our dimension, but their home planet drifted out of orbit, so they added more and more robotic parts to their body until they abandoned individual personality and emotions and decided that everybody else in the universe needed to become like that." Romana explained to her.

"It doesn't sound like the Doctor **would** be alright with them." Daring Do said, worried.

"Its certainly hard to say as much." Romana agreed.

"Everypony, please!" Somepony said as she got up on to the box that Trixie had been standing on. Everypony turned to see that it was a mare with a white coat and a light pink mane with the cutie mark of a red cross. "I know most of you are ready to die, but I must remind you that we have at least enough air for maybe an hour and the food is right over there. Just here to remind you that we still have a chance of survival." The mare noted as she got down off the box and walked away.

"How come you were the first one to figure that out?" Romana asked the mare as she walked over to her.

"I'm a nurse at the Ponyville hospital." the mare said simply.

About 10 whole minutes later, the stallion with the gray coat and the dark orange mane came over to the place where all the food there was served. There was another posted behind it, looking at him as he walked over. "So why are you here again?" the stallion asked the pony there.

"I'm here to make sure nopony tries to take all the food for themselves." The pony said.

The stallion pulled a knife out of his pocket and slit the pony's throat. "I think it's too late for that now." He said as he jumped behind the snack stand and reared the knife.

Everypony gasped and backed away from him as he continued to rear the knife.

"Don't try to come near me!" The sadist yelled.

"Now you've got a serious mental condition. Please, drop the knife and I can help you." The nurse said as she walked forward.

The sadist responded by stabbing the nurse, he then threw the knife out in to the crowd.

"Stop!" emanated the voice of the Cyber-Leader.

And everypony in the room froze in place, and even the knife clattered to the floor after stopping in midair. Romana, being the only Time Lord in the room, was the only one that wasn't affected.

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, The Scout Cyber-Ship, 1003 C.E. =**

"How do you do that?" The Doctor sad as he watched everyone in the train station freeze in place.

"We did find one shard of the entity, but it was not powerful enough. We did find that when wired it in to our main ship, it had…certain effects." The Cyber-Leader said. "Now we have what we want. I will depart to retrieve it. Keep him restrained." It said as it left the ship.

The Cyber-Leader charged up the mountain until he made it in to the train station. He busted through the door as before and made his way over to the sadist.

"Excellent." It said emotionlessly as it put both his hands on the pony. Its eyes began to glow golden as the sadist screamed, golden smoke emanating from where the Cyber-Leader had put his hands.

Then the Cyber-Leader took its hands off, instead reaching them out. It found that it now had a glowing crystal in his hands. "Your purpose is now nothing." It said as it opened fire on the sadist, shooting him dead.

"I have it now." The Cyber-Leader said as he held up the shard of the Entity. 


	4. Chapter 3: Tomb of the Cybermen

Chapter 3: Tomb of the Cybermen

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, Canterlot, Canterlot Train Station, 1003 C.E. =**

The Cyber-Leader, after grabbing the shard of the Entity, simply walked out of the room, making all that had been stopped dead be able to move and think again. Why didn't he just kill them all right then and there? Perhaps he just didn't care. Cybermen don't, by the way. So it didn't even bother to knock down the rocks again as it walked out towards its ship.

Romana, who had never been affected at all, began to look around the awakening crowd. Some were panicking at the sight of yet another dead body that they didn't even remember dying. Others were realizing that the door was now wide open for them to get out, whooped in happiness, and began running, being shocked to find that there were no rescue squads coming anywhere near them. Romana ran over to Daring Do and shook her slightly.

"What happened now?" Daring Do said in a voice like she hadn't gotten any sleep for 24 hours.

"One of the Cybermen came back in and now it's heading back to wherever they took the Doctor." Romana whispered to her. "Come on, quickly." And they began to walk out the door to where the Doctor had been taken: the Cyber-Ship.

Trixie noticed them leaving and decided to see what they were up to. That, and she was also really eager to get out while she still could. So, she followed them, and walked out the door shortly after them.

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, The Scout Cyber-Ship, Telescreen Room, 1003 C.E. =**

"The Cyber-Leader is returning. He has found the shard." One of the Cybermen said. "We will prepare to depart."

"Oh really?" The Doctor asked. "Do you even know where the gates are?"

"Indeed." Said the Cyberman.

"Then what do you need me for?" The Doctor asked simply.

"All Cybermen die before they can get near the gates. You will last longer." The Cyberman said.

Outside the ship, Romana and Daring Do followed the Cyber-Leader at a very close pace. They saw as it moved toward the Cyber-Ship, as the door to it opened for him. They walked towards the door but it shut before they could get in.

Inside the ship, The Cyber-Leader simply held up the shard and all the Cybermen near The Doctor and in the ship came in to the room and snapped to attention.

"We will reach the gates and open them immediately." Said the Cyber-Leader.

And they began to march out. Romana and Daring Do, who had been waiting, tried to run in to the room, but quickly found themselves restrained and dragged along with the Cybermen to wherever the gates were.

Trixie was even more surprised at the sight of the Cyber-Ship than the sight of the Cybermen. She watched as the Doctor, Romana, and Daring Do were drug along by the Cybermen and dragged further down the mountain. She began to run down after them, although not really knowing why.

As the Doctor accepted that there was no way he would be able to fight his way out of the Cybermen's grasp, he saw that they were taking them into a rather narrow cave opening. When they shoved them in there, they didn't have any choice but to go forward as they were stuck on both sides by over a hundred Cybermen.

So, as they were pushed down deeper and deeper in to the narrow passageway, eventually, they reached an area of the cave where no light was shining at all, so they were shoved through the cave in absolute darkness, unable to see what was going on around them even one little bit.

But then, light filled the chasm, as they found themselves in the middle of bright crystals that brought light through the passageway, which was beginning to get a bit less narrow than before, ever so gradually. They found however, that the crystals were making them woozy, and they could hardly move forward without the Cybermen, who weren't affected at all, pushing them along further and further down the tunnel. In seemed to go on forever, until they began to see Cybermen go out of the end of the tunnel.

At the beginning of the tunnel, Trixie had reached the pitch-black part of the tunnel. She actually admitted to herself that she was scared. But another urge to keep going no matter what took her, so she continued to go forward regardless of the fact that **she** didn't know what was at the end of this tunnel.

As the Doctor and his two companions were pushed down the tunnel that led to the gates of Tartarus, they could almost feel the crystals begin to distort reality around them, and it was absolutely nauseating to them. Then the Cybermen shoved out the end of the tunnel, and this was not what any of them were expecting, especially Daring Do, who had read stories about what Tartarus was like, and it was nothing like his at all.

They were in the middle of a large domed room. Looking up to the ceiling, it was decorated like the Sistine Chapel, with very beautiful paintings and colored glass decorations at the top of the dome. The walls were lined with incredibly high shelves with some very old looking books. It looked like this used to be a library, but the gates were moved in here for some kind of reason. Either that, or the library was built around the gates to study them.

And the gates themselves. The looked pretty much like Chinese gates, but they were decorated with enough gold paint, real gold, and gems to make you mistake it for a Faberge egg. There were the large metal rings hanging from the doors and in between them was a large gold circle that the Doctor guessed was where you placed your own shard of the Entity to make the gates open.

Oh, and let's not forget Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the gates looking at them angrily. But when the Cyber-Leader held up the shard, it seemed to shimmer and disappear like a hard light hologram that was being projected from a small yellow gem at the top of the gate, which it actually was.

If Daring Do knew it was that easy, she would have gone on a quest to find this place ages ago.

"Now, you will place the shard on the golden circle." The Cyber-Leader said as he gave him the shard and pushed him forward.

The Doctor, knowing he didn't have much of a choice, walked forward and placed the gem on the golden circle. The gem was absorbed in to the circle as the gates swung open. The Doctor grabbed on to the side of the gates when he realized he was being sucked in.

Tartarus was a photonegative world. This was all Daring Do saw before she slammed her eyes shut, as looking in to Tartarus was making her go insane. She heard demonic screeching noises coming from the gates.

And then the Cyber-Controller emerged. He had no panel on his body, but he did have the tubes running down the sides of his arms and legs. Instead of the handles on his head, he had a large fogged glass braincase with veins visible in it. His simple rectangular mouth and circular eyes made him look even more terrifying than the rest of the Cybermen as he glowered down at them emotionlessly.


	5. Chapter 4: Attack of the Cybermen

Chapter 4: Attack of the Cybermen

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, Deep Inside Canterlot Mountain, The Gates of Tartarus, 1003 C.E. =**

The Cyber-Controller looked over the groups of Cybermen who had just released it from the gates. They all stepped forward and did a salute that only went up to their chins. Romana and Daring Do attempted to take this opportunity to run forward and stop the Doctor from being sucked in to Tartarus. Unfortunately, the Cybermen grabbed and restrained them once again. But of course, none of the Cybermen decided on anything other than leaving the Doctor to hang on the side of the gate for dear life. It was then that Trixie made it out the end of the tunnel, unseen by anyone else, and walked carefully through the room.

It was at that point that the Cyber-Controller spoke. Its voice was completely electronic and emotionless, and it sent a chill down Romana, Daring Do, and Trixie's spines.

"We w-w-will advance. We will commence." It said as it walked forward in to the crowd of Cybermen.

"What shall we do with the prisoners?" The Cyber-Leader asked it.

"Leave them. T-t-they will never survive here." The Cyber-Controller as the crowd of Cybermen walked away and left them. They even saw Trixie, but they simply continued walking, sealing the passageway behind them, leaving them all trapped in.

Trixie ran forward and pulled the Doctor out and away from the gates.

"Thanks so much for that." The Doctor said as he panted and made sure he wouldn't get pulled in again.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is not interested in your thanks!" Trixie said as she held her nose high and put a hoof to her chest.

Daring Do rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead. "Of all the ponies to come and rescue us, it had to be her…" She muttered to herself.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie heard that!" Trixie said.

Daring Do sighed as she looked around. She watched nervously, as the sources of the demonic screeching began to advance towards the gates. "That isn't good. We're still stuck in this place."

"Do you really think that the pony who built this place would only make one way out of the most dangerous place in Equestria?" The Doctor said as he began to look around.

"That makes a lot of sense." Romana said as she began to look around as well.

Daring Do, being the only Pegasus, began to fly up to see if there were any exits towards the top of the large domed room.

Trixie didn't really seem to want to dirty her hooves, as evident as how she was doing nothing to find the other exit.

The Doctor was the first one to find the exit, as it was hidden behind a series of books in the bookcase that lined the walls. The Doctor noted to himself that he hadn't been expecting it to be that easy. He called over all the others to where he had found the exit.

"Are you absolutely certain this leads outside?" Trixie said abrasively.

"Would they really go to all the trouble to hide it if it didn't?" The Doctor asked as he began to walk in to the passageway. After a very short moment of hesitation, the others walked in, closing it up just in case behind them as they walked down it as well.

As they left, the terrifying demons from Tartarus flew and/or walked out of the gates holding them in, and began to try and break out of the mountain that was still keeping them trapped in.

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, The Tunnels Leading Away From The Gates of Tartarus, 1003 C.E. =**

The Doctor, Daring Do, Romana, and Trixie all kept moving through the tunnel, which was rather a sewer, right down to the water on the floor. And sure enough, Trixie was complaining about it, driving the rest of them crazy.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not want to be walking in this ice cold water!" Trixie yelled.

The Doctor and Romana didn't even reply, having toned out a while ago. Daring Do, however, was not as lucky about this, having to listen to every complaint the arrogant unicorn made at them. That didn't mean she had to answer, though. All she could really do was hope that they would reach the end of the tunnel soon enough before she couldn't take it anymore.

Then she realized that the water beneath them was now ice and the tunnel was slanting downhill. They began to slide down, quickly rising to uncontrollable speeds. Soon enough their hooves were no longer touching the ice at all and they were simply falling very fast.

Impact was not pleasant, but once they picked themselves up, they realized that the exit of the mountain was mere feet away. And so they all ran out of the tunnel and saw where they were.

"Is that Ponyville?" Trixie said, slightly deflated, as she saw the colorful city a small distance away from them.

"It would appear so." Romana said. Then they all heard a metallic sound behind them. They looked up to see a single Cyberman descending the mountain and heading the same way as they were: towards Ponyville.

"Let's hurry!" The Doctor yelled as they all ran towards Ponyville, despite knowing that the Cybermen was heading the same place.

When they reached Ponyville, they found it almost empty, due to it having only been three weeks since the pony equivalent of Christmas. They found that the Cyberman was now storming through the city.

"Let's hide in there." Romana said as she pointed out a library that happened to be built inside of a tree.

Trixie's eyes widened as she recognized the house. "Uh… I don't think we should…"

"Come on!" said the Doctor as he grabbed her by the hoof and dragged her in to the house, the owner of which being at the Crystal Empire at this current moment.

The Cyberman stalked through the city. Until the main ship informed the Cyber-Fleet that they had found the Cyber-Controller, no one could know of their visit to this planet, so it was here to kill all who were in this city that might have seen the Cyber-Ship landing on the mountain.

An old pony walked through the mostly empty streets, but screamed as the Cyberman strangled him to death, and then used his gun to destroy the body. After this was taken care of, it looked for others to kill to serve the purpose of the Cybermen. It saw a house that had been built in a tree, and began to walk towards it to kill all who were there, and all that were in this city until the Cyber-Controller was returned to the Cybermen.


	6. Chapter 5: Earthshock

Chapter 5: Earthshock

**=Gaia, Equestria, Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library, Twilight Sparkle's Study, 1003 C.E. =**

"The Cybermen must have sent a Cyber-Scout down to Ponyville, either for an invasion or to destroy any witnesses." The Doctor noted as they crouched down below the windows so the Cyberman wouldn't see them.

"Just one? That's rather arrogant." Trixie noted.

"Cybermen are incapable of emotions. They are also incapable of arrogance." The Doctor pointed out.

"Unlike you, apparently." Daring Do said snidely.

Before Trixie could comment about that, the Cyberman began to repeatedly shoot through the windows of the room, smashing them.

Trixie realized that she was watching somepony she really didn't like have their windows smashed, and she couldn't hold back laughing just a little.

"Are you enjoying this?" The Doctor asked, slightly surprised.

"Trixie most certainly is!" Trixie yelled.

Then the Cyberman broke his way through the door and walked into the room, and Trixie stopped laughing.

"Keep out of sight!" Romana whispered.

They continued to press against where they were, trying to keep out of the line of vision of the Cyberman as it stomped through the room, knowing full well someone was in the room, but not sure where.

The Doctor was unsure of how they would get out of this one, but he was sure they would think of something soon enough.

The Doctor looked for something in the small library. Finding nothing, he sighed inwardly. Then he realized that the Cyberman was now beginning to descend in to the basement. He realized this was a bit of a long shot, but it might do something.

Instead of telling the others what his plan was, he simply ran forward at top speed and pushed the Cyberman right down the stairs, creating a rather loud crash at the bottom.

The Doctor walked down the stairs to see if he had killed it, while the others stared at him in shock. "Did he really just do that?" Daring Do asked, surprised.

"You never are quite sure what the Doctor's going to do until he's already gone and done it." Romana noted.

The Doctor got to the bottom of the stairs and found that the Cyberman was slightly damaged, but was picking itself up. He also saw some primitive machinery nearby.

"Electrical equipment? Well that will suit me just fine." The Doctor said as he pulled a wire out of the machinery. He attached this wire to the Cyberman, smiled at it, and pulled a lever on the machinery panels.

Electricity shot through the Cyberman until the panel on its chest exploded, causing it to collapse dead.

Shortly after, Romana, Daring Do and Trixie came down to see it the Doctor had actually gone and killed the Cyberman, and were actually shocked a little to see that he had, and was now examining it.

"You did it, I see." Romana said, maintaining a straight face.

There was a continuous clicking noise emanating from the Cyberman, going in a pattern over and over.

"What, is it going to explode?" Trixie asked fearfully.

"No, it's a coded message that began playing on a loop after the Cybermen died." The Doctor explained.

"Well, what does it say?" Romana asked.

"If I've got it right, it says 'Mission failed. You must destroy town with Cyber-Bomb.' or something like that." The Doctor said.

"WHAT?" Daring Do yelled, horrified.

"Now all we have to do is get up to the ship and make sure they don't drop that bomb." The Doctor said, surprisingly calm.

"But how do we do that?" Trixie yelled.

"Simple. We teleport up there." The Doctor pointed out.

"But I can't do that! Trixie's magic is blocked!" Trixie yelled.

"Well I can unblock your 'magic'." The Doctor said as he sifted through his pockets and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. He began whirring it at her horn.

"What are you doing to Trixie?" Trixie asked.

"Hold still, this will take about ten minutes." The Doctor said.

Ten minutes later, The Doctor quickly rushed her up the stairs and out of the house, just to make sure that she wouldn't blow the house up. And it certainly looked like she could do that, as her horn was literally sparking with energy

"Unfortunately, there's only enough energy built up for two of us, so I'll go with Trixie, and the rest of you stay here." The Doctor said as he prepared to teleport.

"But what do we do?" Daring Do asked.

"I'm sure we can find a way to make ourselves useful." Romana said.

"Exactly. I'm sure I'll see you again." Then the Doctor placed his hoof on the side of Trixie's head. Her eyes turned pure white, and they were both transported up to the Cyber-Ship.

Daring Do and Romana then began to make their way up to the mountain not far away from them, hoping that they could help from there.

**=Gaia, Equestria, Descending from Orbit of the Planet Gaia, Cyber Rescue Fleet 12, The Bomber Cyber-Ship, 1003 C.E. =**

Trixie discovered that she was in the middle of a large room with lots of control panels covered in buttons she didn't understand. She also discovered that she was surrounded on all sides by Cybermen.

She wanted to scream, but she was pulled down by the Doctor, who dragged her over to where the Cybermen could not possibly see where they were at.

"Well this will be a bit harder than I thought." The Doctor whispered.

'You think so?" Trixie whispered back, slightly angrily.

"Let's just go quickly." The Doctor said as he prepared some kind of way to rush over to the controls of the bomb and disarm it. He looked at t contemplatively until an idea came to him. "I just thought of a way to kill two birds with one stone." He whispered.

"How?" Trixie whispered.

"If we crash the bomb in to the gates of Tartarus, it will close them again and kill all the demons that are already out." The Doctor explained.

"That's insane!" Trixie whispered.

"It's all we've got." The Doctor said. And then, without warning, he very quickly ran out to the navigation console and started rapidly pressing buttons at unimaginable.

The Cybermen regained their composure and tried to fire at him, but the Doctor ducked and the bullets destroyed the console, making whatever the Doctor did permanent.

Trixie just stared in shock at how insane that was.

"Congratulations. You're now permanently set on a crash course with a mountain." The Doctor said as he grabbed Trixie and ran.

They made it to the airlock with no trouble, but found it was stuck, and they couldn't open it.

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, The Base of Canterlot Mountain, 1003 C.E. =**

Romana and Daring Do were at the base of the mountain, planning to climb back up to Canterlot.

All of a sudden, they saw a ship blazing across the sky. It crashed into the mountain and exploded powerfully, shaking the whole mountain.

Daring Do and Romana stared in horror as they realized that The Doctor was on that ship.


	7. Chapter 6: The Invasion

Chapter 6: The Invasion

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, The Base of Canterlot Mountain, 1003 C.E. =**

Daring Do could only feel the words that she could have said die in her throat as she looked up to the remains of the ship that she knew the Doctor was on. Everything became too blurred up to even think straight. She forgot to think about Trixie, who had also been on board the ship. She couldn't think about how Romana must have felt in this situation. She couldn't even get a clear grip on how she felt right now as she watched. Emotions were too difficult to even have at the moment. She couldn't focus on anything at all, and felt like she was about to faint.

"Hello, you two." Said the Doctor as he and Trixie walked up behind them.

Sure enough, Daring Do passed right out to the ground.

"I think you caught her at a bad moment there." Romana noted as she hugged him (Which was slightly awkward in pony form).

"Yes, I suppose so." The Doctor said.

"So how were you able to get out?" Romana asked.

"Luckily, I was able to jam the airlock open and we ejected from the ship." The Doctor said. "Landing wasn't pleasant though."

"Well, I'm glad." Romana said as they lifted up the passed out Daring Do to her hooves and carried her along.

"Well, what must we do now?" Trixie asked.

"I'm not sure." The Doctor said. "But I know that we have to get up to that main Cyber-Ship. That's where the Cyber-Controller is. And they might still have the capabilities to bomb this planet with the two remaining ships."

"So how are we supposed to do that then?" Trixie said. "Trixie's last attempt at teleportation has left her exhausted."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "I'm sure there's more in you than you think."

**=Outer Space, In Orbit Above the Planet Gaia, The Main Cyber-Ship, The Corridors, 1003 C.E. =**

There was a flash of light, and The Doctor, Romana, Daring Do, and Trixie appeared in the middle of the corridors of the Cyber-Ship. This finally made Trixie pass out to the floor from exhaustion. They loaded her and Daring Do, who was also still unconscious, into the back of a storage unit to make sure that no Cyberman would just come along and see them and kill them right there while they were helpless. They walked down the corridors.

Meanwhile, in the Cyber-Computer room, the Cyber-Controller was discussing their strategy on the destruction of all who might have seen the Cybermen down on the planet.

"I have an idea." Said the Cyber-Planner. "I am connected to the Cyber-Computer to make strategies based on the Cybermen information system. Perhaps if I was connected to the brain of a specimen down there, I could make strategies based on the specimen's knowledge."

"Indeed. I shall bring you the s-s-specimen that you need." Said the Cyber-Controller as it walked over to give the order.

Back in the corridors, The Doctor and Romana were searching through the corridors for something that would prove quite important for them. They decided to search the cockpit and the Cyber-Computer room last, as those were the rooms with the most Cybermen that could see them and shoot them where they stood. They walked through the corridors carefully, hoping not to see any Cybermen.

"I wish we knew our around Cyber-Ships better than we do now." Romana noted simply.

"I know the way just fine." The Doctor said as he threw open a door…

And was faced with a Cyberman that grabbed them and pulled them through the door.

Daring Do began to come to in the closet, but the first thing to wake her up was a Cyberman hand grabbing her over her mouth and dragged her along out of the closet. This shocked almost to the point of fainting again, but she wasn't quite unconscious. She saw Trixie the same way, and watched as they appeared to be taken towards the ship prison.

And sure enough, it was a prison. She was pushed into a cage along with Trixie, and another Cyberman pushed The Doctor and Romana in to the cage as well.

They sat there for a while, not saying anything to each other. They watched as the Cybermen received orders from the Cyber-Leader. So, eventually, one of them walked in to the cage, and before any of them could say anything, one of them grabbed Trixie and pulled her out of the cage and dragged her away. They must have deciphered that she would know the most about current events on the planet below.

The Doctor immediately pulled out his sonic screwdriver. As he whirred it, it opened the cage and disabled the Cyber-Guards all in only 5 minutes. "Gosh, that was easy." he said as he and the others ran out of the room.

"Where are we going?" Romana asked.

"To find Trixie." The Doctor said. "I hope we won't be too late."

**=Outer Space, In Orbit Above the Planet Gaia, The Main Cyber-Ship, The Cyber-Computer Room, 1003 C.E. =**

The Cyber-Leader rigged up everything for the experiment and had detached the Cyber-Planner from the computer. "Bring in the subject we captured from the planet."

A shivering pony was brought in to the room. The Cyber-Planner was attached to his head. The pony screamed as the Cyber-Planner latched onto his brain. Once this was complete, the pony stopped screaming and his eyes went dead. But then his nose and ears began to bleed rapidly.

"Take me off! Take me off!" The Cyber-Planner yelled.

The Cyber-Leader pulled the Cyber-Planner off the dead pony's head. "Bring in the next subject!" he called out.

They then began to push Trixie though the room and towards the Cyber-Planner as she desperately tried to pull away.

The Cyber-Controller watched this stoically. It certainly didn't look like there was any other way this would happen. Absolutely no way out now.


	8. Chapter 7: The Farewell

Chapter 7: The Farewell

**=Outer Space, In Orbit Above the Planet Gaia, Cyber Rescue Fleet 12, The Main Cyber-Ship, The Cyber-Computer Room, 1003 C.E. =**

Trixie watched as the Cyber-Controller, who although its motions were kind of awkward, wasn't as super slow as later models would be, continue to lower the Cyber-Planner down towards her head, which he as certain would kill. She didn't bother trying to weasel her way out of this, knowing the Cybermen were incapable of emotions and also incapable of being persuaded. She still tried to fight her way out but the Cybermen held her down with incredible firmness.

It was then that just in time, The Doctor, Romana, and Daring Do (If you're wondering, my fingers feel fine after typing all their names!) burst their way in to the room. The Cybermen got shocked for a moment in a Cybermen sort of way, giving Trixie time to pull away from the Cyber-Planner, but then opened fire with their head guns on them. They all managed to dodge, and Daring Do dropped down to the ground. The Doctor and Romana kept dodging to give her time to get to Trixie before the Cybermen remembered what they were doing to her again.

But all of a sudden, as Daring Do crawled along the floor, she began to scream in pain, and the Cybermen simply stopped firing.

The Doctor watched in horror as the Cyber-Leader began to step down on Daring Do's wings. And the pain of it was so intense that she couldn't do anything except keep screaming.

And then the Cyber-Leader lifted his feet off of Daring Do's wings. This didn't help the pain of it anymore, as she continued to scream. As the Cyber-Planner, now with bloodied feet, walked over to the group of Cybermen, who didn't seem to care one little bit about what the others were doing, as they loaded the Cyber-Planner back on to the Cyber-Computer.

They obviously expected the Doctor to run over to the injured Daring Do, believing they understood that he knew what he was like. But in fact, he didn't. He ran over and fought his way though the crowd of Cybermen, and snapped the antenna on top of the Cyber-Planner. And this antenna was connected to the shard of the Entity that all the Cybermen had been using, so it had quite the effect.

The Cyber-Ship that was next to the one they were on forcefully exploded, causing the ship they were on to do at least six barrel rolls. After that had stopped, all the Cybermen on that ship simply fell down to the ground, dead. This was with the exception of the Cyber-Leader, and the Cyber-Controller.

But the Cyber-Leader, who did have a partial connection, fizzed and sparked as it fell down to its knees, injured but not dead.

The Cyber-Controller looked at them in a way so that even though its face was emotionless, you knew it was, in fact, absolutely murderously angry at you.

But the Doctor and his friends didn't really want to stay to find out.

They all grabbed on to Trixie. "It would be nice of you to teleport us out of here, Trixie!" The Doctor yelled.

Trixie rolled her eyes. "You know, I'm not really that good at…"

"Now!" The Doctor screamed, cutting her off.

And they all then disappeared in a flash of light.

And then, the Cyber-Leader got up to his feet.

"We will depart this dimension. Dispose of the Cyberman bodies." Said the Cyber-Controller.

The Cyber-Leader nodded and began to comply.

"Now that you have rescued me, we will rebuild." The Cyber-Controller said.

"EXCELLENT!" said the Cyber-Leader in a far too emotional and enthusiastic voice as he ship flew away.

**=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot Mountain, Canterlot, the Streets of Canterlot, 1003 C.E. =**

About three days later, on January 18, after Daring Do was mostly recovered, The Doctor and Trixie were walking through the streets of Canterlot, and Trixie was talking about herself.

"So after The Great and Powerful Trixie fled Ponyville after the whole Alicorn Amulet incident, she never wanted to do a stage show again, and she never did." Finished Trixie.

"You want my advice, start doing them again. A lot less ponies will think you're crazy." The Doctor said. Then he thought of something. "Or to rephrase that, a lot less ponies will figure out that you're crazy.

Trixie just glared at him.

"And its okay to talk in the third person on stage, but please don't do it when you're actually talking to other ponies in real life." The Doctor said.

"**I **got it." Said Trixie.

And shortly after that, the Doctor and Trixie said their goodbyes, and the Doctor ran away through the streets until he had rushed out of sight, leaving Trixie to continue pondering about her life and where it would go after this.

**=Gaia, Equestria, The Base of Canterlot Mountain, The Doctor's TARDIS, TARDIS Console Room, 1003 C.E. =**

The Doctor stepped into the TARDIS and dematerialized it. He had somewhat of a sad look on his face. He looked over at Daring Do. "Well, I suppose we've got to discus about you leaving." He said.

"Leaving?" asked Romana, surprised.

"Yes, before we got caught up in all this, Daring was talking to me about leaving the TARDIS." He turned back to Daring Do. "And you haven't changed your mind, have you?"

Daring Do, whose wings were bandaged up, shook her head. "How could I have? How could I possibly have changed my mind?" she said, her voce quavering in sad anger.

"No, I suppose it wasn't possible." The Doctor said.

Romana didn't really know what to say in this kind of situation, so she stood by. This didn't mean she wasn't sad, though.

It was then that the TARDIS materialized.

"We've made it back to your home time." The Doctor said as the three of them walked out of the TARDIS.

"Good bye then." Daring Do said, unable to find any more words than that.

"Good bye." The Doctor said as Romana stepped forward.

"Good bye. I can't say I desire to change your mind, but it certainly had been nice knowing you. I hope you have a good rest of your life." Romana said, saying all the words the Doctor wanted to say.

"Good bye." Daring Do said, still at a loss.

The Doctor and Romana walked back in to he TARDIS. Daring Do was then hit by the urge to run back in and talk to them more, but then the TARDIS dematerialized.

"Dear Celestia…" Daring Do said, not quite believing she had really done it.

She pulled a paper out of the pocket on her coat. It was something she had been planning to look for, but turned down in favor of going through the Everfree Forest: The Sapphire Stone. She looked upwards towards the sky and smiled.

**=The Time Vortex, The Doctor's TARDIS, TARDIS Corridors, Where Time Has No Meaning =**

The Doctor led Romana through the corridors. "What are we doing now?" she asked.

The Doctor pushed her out in to the TARDIS printer room. "I'll be just a minute." He returned with the whole Daring Do book series.

"What's that for?" Romana asked.

The Doctor put the first book it the slot of a machine, and it printed out in manuscript form. "It says this book was published in 947, so let's head on to 947." He said.

"What?" Romana asked.

"We're going to make sure Daring Do is remembered. Perhaps not the way she deserves, but she will be remembered." The Doctor said.

Romana smiled.

"And once we're done, I think we ought to return to our own dimension. I'll make the dimensional rift smaller so only the TARDIS can get through, so we won't have to worry about the Cybermen again.

Then Romana said, "Well, on to the next chapter."

To be continued in Episode 9. And there will be an Episode 9.


End file.
